Character Archetypes: “The Wizard of Oz”
Published in
7 min readApr 1, 2020
Over the years, I’ve analyzed dozens of movies through the lens of five primary character archetypes: Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, Trickster. This is my theory, that most movies have these five narrative dynamics at work in them:
A character or characters with a conscious goal toward which they are moving forward: Protagonist.
A character or characters who provide an oppositional force: Nemesis.
An ally who is most connected to the Protagonist’s emotional development: Attractor.
